An 11-Story Academic Building Opens West of Senate Avenue
Indiana University School of Medicine broke ground on its medical education and research building on October 19, 2022, on a $230 million project. The building stands 11 stories at 350 W. 14th St., west of Senate Avenue and south of the IU Neurosciences Research Center on 16th Street. IU News puts the gross area at 326,200 square feet. The school calls the project the largest in its 120-year history and the first new classroom space it has built in Indianapolis since 1959.
IU School of Medicine opened the building in June 2025, and classes started on August 4, 2025. The building splits by floor. The first three floors hold the teaching programme: a ground-floor atrium, spaces for small learning communities, classrooms, lecture halls and a cafe. The second and third floors carry more classrooms, a surgical skills center, simulation spaces, a library, practice exam rooms and an anatomy lab. Eight floors of research and office space rise above that base. An underground tunnel links the building to Goodman Hall and the Neuroscience Research Building to the north.
IU Health contributed $145 million of the $230 million cost. Retired manufacturing executive Dave Roberts and his wife Susan committed $10 million for neurodegenerative research labs. Cardiologist Dr. Diane K. Werth gave $5 million for the anatomy lab.
Who Is on Campus During the Week
The school's fact sheet counts 802 medical students at the Indianapolis campus inside a statewide student body of 1,459. It lists 1,448 residents and fellows across 121 accredited programmes, 3,707 full-time faculty and 3,056 volunteer faculty. The same document records 7,822 applications and 365 enrolled students for the Class of 2029.
Each of those counts describes weekday traffic. Admissions interviews, faculty committees, exam weeks, resident rotations and research collaborations land Monday through Friday. Inside INdiana Business reported in September 2025 that first- and second-year students work in the building five days a week in study and peer groups the school calls professional learning communities. A medical simulation center is still to open inside the building. That report placed it at Fairbanks Hall on 10th Street, and the school has published no date for the move.
What Published Sources Say About the Demand Shape
HVS published a downtown Indianapolis market report on September 8, 2025 with a direct reading of the campus. It places the medical education and research building inside the emerging Indy Health District and states that the campus “is expected to generate steady weekday hotel demand for extended-stay and midscale hotels from visitors such as medical professionals, faculty, patients, and families.”
That reading points at a specific mix. Weeknights near 16th Street carry academic and clinical business. Weekend nights carry the city's event calendar. HVS describes the wider base as healthcare, legal, corporate, sports and leisure travel supporting weekday and weekend performance, and names the 2025 downtown headquarters moves by OTAVA and Ice Miller as weekday business travel.
Rate and Length of Stay in the Near-Term Picture
Published rate data for the corridor stays thin. Marcus & Millichap's 2026 Indianapolis hospitality investment forecast puts CBD occupancy near 65 percent for 2026, the highest in the metro, and ties the convention center expansion and the Signia by Hilton to “potentially supporting weekday occupancy and rate growth over time.” No publisher has printed an occupancy or ADR series for the area around the medical campus.
Group inventory near the corridor is published. The Indiana Convention Center & Lucas Oil Stadium facility guide counts 4,721 downtown rooms connected by skywalk, 7,175 rooms within a six-block radius and 4,570 committable group rooms downtown. Visit Indy counts 12 connected hotels and 5,200 rooms in the convention package ahead of the Signia.
What the Record Does Not Answer
No source publishes a room-night forecast for the medical campus. No source publishes a monthly count of visiting faculty, admissions candidates or clinical visitors who stay in hotels. The school has published no opening date for the simulation center. Operators pricing midweek business near 16th Street should ask IU School of Medicine and IU Health for those figures instead of inferring them from floor area.